Free Range Eggs

Following the conviction of an egg farmer who admitted duping consumers by passing off 2.47 million eggs from caged hens as free-range, we are concerned at what may well be a significant knock to the confidence of egg purchasing consumers.

The majority of New Zealand Shoppers care very much for animal welfare and for humane farming. Here at the RNZSPCA we operate the SPCA Blue Tick Accreditation Programme to ensure that you can purchase your eggs (and selected other products) with confidence and in the knowledge that the animals involved are humanely farmed.

SPCA Blue Tick is a certification programme run by the Royal New Zealand SPCA. It certifies animal products that “are farmed to our high welfare standards”.The RNZSPCA describe the SPCA Blue Tick Programme as “Your Humane Farming Guarantee”.

The scheme started by certifying eggs in 2001 and then added pork products in 2009. In 2011 it added standards for meat poultry chicken and in 2012 added turkey standards.

The Brands that currently carry the SPCA Blue Tick certification logo on their eggs are Freedom Farms, Henergy Eggs, Kirkfields and Wholesome. All producers supplying these distributors must meet the Accreditation Standards set down by the RNZSPCA.

So we respectfully ask that you purchase only SPCA Blue Tick accredited products and, if you are unable to find such products, that you talk to your retailer and ask them to ensure that they only stock products that carry the SPCA Blue Tick certification logo.

Together, we can work to ensure that New Zealand producers meet appropriate standards and that animal welfare is not discarded in the interest of profit.